Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
Eleanor RooseveltRead
It's your life - but only if you make it so. The standards by which you live must be your own standards, your own values, your own convictions in regard to what is right and wrong, what is true and false, what is important and what is trivial. When you adopt the standards and the values of someone else . . . you surrender your own integrity. You become, to the extent of your surrender, less of a human being.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Your life is defined by your own values and convictions, not by those imposed by others.
Eleanor Roosevelt emphasizes the importance of living life according to one's own values and standards, warning that adopting the beliefs of others can lead to a loss of personal integrity and identity. By surrendering to external influences, one sacrifices their authenticity and diminishes their humanity, urging individuals to take responsibility for defining what is important and meaningful in their own lives.
Themes
LifeValuesIntegrityStandardsAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a personal development workshop to inspire participants to reflect on their own values.
More from Eleanor Roosevelt
All quotes →Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
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You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.
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Our children should learn the general framework of their government and then they should know where they come in contact with the government, where it touches their daily lives and where their influence is exerted on the government. It must not be a distant thing, someone else's business, but they must see how every cog in the wheel of a democracy is important and bears its share of responsibility for the smooth running of the entire machine.
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It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know.
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I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do.
Eleanor RooseveltRead
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